He had worked with artists featuring an aggressive guitar-based sound, including singer-songwriters Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Nicks, and he brought that approach to the band.

[2] Although already successful in their native U.K. and various countries in Europe and Oceania, Simple Minds had also recently become popular in the U.S., mainly due to the Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff-penned "Don't You (Forget About Me)".

Still, the bombastic pop rock sound proved influential in the construction of much of Once Upon a Time, particularly the arena-friendly single "Alive and Kicking".

Once Upon a Time also shared many influences with their previous studio album, Sparkle in the Rain, which explored a similar songwriting style.

This was the first album without founding member, bassist Derek Forbes, who left the band after recording "Don't You (Forget About Me)".

Kerr works up a cheerleader rock star's mechanical pep, displaying good-time intentions in the same dumb, obvious way.

A 7" edit, an instrumental version and an extended 12" remix of "Oh Jungleland" were prepared and the latter two tracks subsequently appeared on the "Ghost Dancing" single releases.

All the tracks were remixed in 5.1 surround sound, and additionally, a downmixed 2.0 stereo version was created for compatibility with non-surround DVD-Audio set-ups.

(Note: the band used to credit all their songs to simply "Simple Minds", which at the time also included drummer Mel Gaynor and bass player John Giblin.

However, both the ASCAP song database and the credits on Spotify list Kerr, Burchill and MacNeil as the sole writers)Adapted from the album's liner notes.